Christmas in Cancun

2012 was a big year for us Trimbles; I graduated from the Interpreter Training Program, we got pregnant and we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Ty and I had talked for a while about going on a trip together to celebrate all of the aforementioned events, and we finally got around to going on it over christmas with a trip to Cancun. Admittedly, it was a bit strange to spend christmas in 80 degree weather and playing in the ocean. But it was much more wonderful than it was strange. Our families were gracious enough to not throw a fit over us leaving for christmas either. My dad was actually really sweetly excited for us to get this time together before our addition in March. We were too. So, we left the Seattle snow (that’s right, it was actually snowing the day we left!) at 2 in the morning (thanks to our friend Brielle who drove us to the airport at that unholy hour of the day) and boarded our (first class!) flight to warm and sunny Cancun. As soon as we took our first steps out of the airport I could have cried; it was so warm and beautiful and there was the most perfect tropical breeze.

last look at snowy mountains for 8 days

We spent the next 8 days laying on the beach, soaking up some much needed vitamin D, overeating, snorkeling, sleeping in, reading, playing in the ocean and doing a bit more overeating. All-inclusive resorts will definitely do that to you! We even spent December 21 (the day the world was going to end) at the Mayan ruin Tulum. It was packed! We didn’t intentionally plan to visit on the last day of the Mayan calendar, but it was pretty cool to be touring the ancient city with hundreds of other people that day.

The King’s palace in Tulum

We also went to Xel-Ha that day, which is a like a natural water park, to inner tube, snorkel and do some more overeating (because the park is also all inclusive). In the evening they did some sort of reinactment of a Mayan ceremony for the beginning of a new era. We were both a little weirded out and opted out of participating.

idol worship?

We survived! And if you can read it, what the Mayans actually believed about December 21st

Man my belly looks huge in that picture! Funny thing about being pregnant and visiting Mexico: I wasn’t allowed to kayak or paddle board or go on a sailboat, but no bartender had any problem offering me alcohol. Don’t worry, I did not indulge. Not intentionally at least. Ty’s pretty sure the bartender forgot the non-alcoholic part of my drink one night. I didn’t notice. But it’s okay, the baby is fully formed now and it was probably watered down alcohol in a girly drink that was mostly ice and blended fruit juice anyway…

We also ventured out to Cozumel for a day because we’d heard the island is beautiful and that there was great snorkeling along the reef there. That day turned out to be our most…adventurous…of the trip. See, our plan was to get over there, rent a car, drive to the southern end of the island (because that’s where we’d heard the best beaches/snorkeling was), play in the water and tour around a bit and then head back to the ferry in the afternoon. However, once we got to Cozumel and tried paying for a rental car, we realized we forgot to let our bank know we would be out of the country because they had frozen our account. Before we finally figured that out though, Ty spent 45 minutes walking to four different ATMs and a bank trying to get money out while I sat at some seedy rental car garage downtown. I was pretty convinced my husband had either been kidnapped or beaten up by some mexican gang and had all our money stolen (which was only about $40 cash at that point). Luckily he returned to the seedy garage to pick me up unharmed, but still without money. It took what I am sure is a very expensive international call to our bank (we haven’t gotten our phone bill yet) explaining that we were vacationing in Mexico and needed our funds unfrozen to finally get the money out to rent a car for the day. At that point though we didn’t have enough time to drive to the south end for snorkeling and make it back in time for the ferry we needed to catch. So instead, we found a national park called Chankanaab and spent a few hours there. The beach in the park ended up having the best snorkeling of the trip. My favorite parts were seeing a sting ray and swimming over an entire school of fish!

the rental car we finally managed to pay for

The rest of our trip was pretty much spent either at the beach, in the ocean, or eating. No complaints there.

me, absolutely loving every moment of being in the sun!

that’s my man in the water being watched by the seagull

And on christmas, this is how we spent our day:

Merry Christmas! Love, the Trimbles 🙂

For our christmas dinner, we went to the fancy adults-only french restaurant on the hotel property. The dress code was noted as “resort elegant”, which we did not pack for. We tried our best to dress fancy, which for Ty meant wearing jeans and a button up and for me meant turning a sundress into a long skirt paired with a cotton tank-top and target sandals. We are nothing if not classy….Ty also had me laughing so hard at dinner I though I might go in to labor. We were given more than one dirty look. Again, nothing but classy here.

fancy christmas dinner

And to end the trip, we both got a taste of Montezuma’s revenge. It certainly made for an interesting flight home….But as a silver lining, I think it helped us both drop the few pounds I’m sure we gained over the course of the week from all the all-you-can-eat food. The glass is always half full.

We hope you enjoyed a very merry christmas and time with your loved ones as well. We sure did! Feliz Navidad!

Half Way!

Well, I am officially at the 22 week mark, which means that I am just over half way through this pregnancy already. That’s a bit unbelievable. I love being pregnant…and we are so unprepared for this kid…so I am hoping the next 18 weeks go by very slowly. But really, I do love being pregnant. Overall, I feel pretty great and I am in love with the little movements I feel inside. His movements have gone from gentile flutters to obvious kicks in what seems like just a matter of days. Ty has even felt the baby a time or two, which I think is amazing. I’m also over the awkward my-belly-is-expanding-but-I-just-look-fat stage and am so proud of my bump. It is a constant reminder of the life growing inside and the gift God has given Ty and I in this little boy. And if you’re curious, no we have not picked a name yet. We both have our favorites, but can’t agree on any one of them. I keep telling Ty that I should get 51% of the vote because of all the hard work I am putting in to housing the kid…in my body…for 9 whole months. He’s not totally sold on that idea either.

One of the other big pregnancy to-do list items we tackled recently was starting our registry. We walked in to Babies R Us thinking it would be fun and exciting and wonderful. Which in large part it was. But it was also exhausting and completely overwhelming. Ty was a trooper though. He lasted longer than I did. By the end of two hours, the only thing I wanted to do was leave, so things like burp cloths, baby nail clippers and monitors just didn’t seem important anymore. You know what does seem important? Finding a place to live. Our little 800 square foot, 1 bedroom apartment just isn’t ideal anymore. If you think of it, we would love your prayers as we look for a home, hopefully to purchase, to accommodate our growing family. I know that in everything, God will provide just what we need for this baby. So regardless of overwhelming registry experiences that make me feel so unprepared and unequipped, and looking for a home that feels like it will never come, God is sovereign. I know that I do not need to be anxious about anything as we await the arrival of this precious boy.

And for the family and friends I don’t get to see very often, below are some shots of the bump that we’ve taken each week. We missed week 17 because that’s when we were in Nashville with Joe and Hailey, so the weekly photo slipped off the priority list. The photos all kind of look the same to me, but I sure feel different now compared to 7 weeks ago! Putting on socks is definitely harder now too, which is a sure sign of a growing belly. 🙂

It’s so hard to say goodbye

When writing the title for this post, I imagined Boyz II Men singing that in my head. On stage. With a fog machine. Wearing all white suits…c’mon, you know you did too when you read it! But on to what I really wanted to talk about. Although this post is about a fun vacation with friends, it is also about a sad goodbye to some of our favorite and most treasured people on the planet. See, Joe and Hailey aren’t just friends, they are people we have walked through life together with, lived with, and who have seen Ty and I at probably some of our best and worst moments.

Joe and Ty actually go way back to their middle school days. I wish I had a picture handy, but all of Ty’s photo albums are shoved in the back of our storage closet in some mystery box. Some day, when we pull it out again, I will have to post some pictures from the early days of their friendship, because they are precious! They are obviously close with one another…

because this is not the only photo of its kind…

I’m sure they’ll both love me for that…

But Joe has been a fast and loyal friend to my husband for probably somewhere around 15 years. When I met Joe my senior year of high school through a mutual friend (I had yet to have the pleasure of meeting his friend Ty), it was obvious from the very beginning that he was someone who deeply loved God, who stood by his convictions, who was a natural leader (even among his peers), and who had such wisdom and joy. When I got to meet his girlfriend, Hailey, I was equally as impressed and prayed that that first meeting would be the beginning of a friendship together.

Fortunately for me, it was. I had never met someone who was so faithful and committed to their relationship with the Lord. I was so impressed by her character, her integrity, her compassion and her knowledge of scripture. But she could also be the silliest and most unexpected of the group. For example, her river dancing was famous among our group of friends, a marvel that even Joe was not privy to seeing until after they were married.

Since meeting at the age of 17, ten years ago now, we have walked through so much together. She is someone that knows me better than almost anyone else and who I know cares deeply about the condition of my heart, my marriage and my relationship with Christ. There are so few people I feel comfortable truly being myself around, and Hailey definitely makes that short list. We can cut straight to the heart of the matter and talk for hours about anything and absolutely everything.

Up until two weeks ago, Hailey has been either a roommate or a neighbor. When they got married and moved to Seattle, we ended up doing the same after our own marriage a year later. We’ve basically followed them from Eugene to Corvallis to Seattle. And now…well, now they’ve decided to relocate to Tennessee. Sad.

Being around for the big moments in each others lives is certainly going to be more difficult when there’s 1,000 miles between us. They’ve been there for us to take our engagement photos.

And be in our wedding.

And they even asked us to take their maternity photos, even though Ty and I are nothing close to professional photographers…Hailey had to talk us through it the entire time (check out her work at http://www.haileyrahmphotography.com).

But I believe whole-heartedly that the four of us have a friendship that will last a lifetime. Traveling to Tennessee with them was the best and worst thing we’ve done together in years. It was the best because I got to spend six days with my best friend. Time we haven’t had together like that since being roommates our sophomore year of college. But the worst because it was a six-day-long reminder of what we’re going to miss. These two seriously are some of the best people alive. Seeing each other is definitely going to be less frequent and much more expensive, but hopefully they’ll be back in the PNW soon enough. If not, Ty wins the bet and Joe, you owe us free flights out to Tennessee again! 😉

We love you Joe and Hailey! We expect a visit this spring when baby Trimble makes his or her arrival.

181 days to go

It’s official. I’ve entered my second trimester, and according to the baby app on my phone, I only have 181 days to go until I get to meet the tiny human growing inside me. Wow. That is…exciting…and scary…and wonderful…and terrifying…I can’t wait to meet this baby face to face, but the thought of life changing dramatically and forever is also a little daunting. Ty and I pray for our little one everyday and I dream of what its personality will be like, what it will look like, and I pray it gets the very best from both of us. I am blessed to be married to a man I hope our child looks up to, emulates and adores. I pray our child has Ty’s patience…

his loyalty

his commitment

his wit and sense of humor

his cute nose

his almond shaped eyes

his love for adventure

his awe of creation

his cute butt

his thick brown hair

his steadfast faith in the Lord

his ability to compromise

his leadership

his 1 million facial expressions

and so much more. I trust that God is knitting together the perfect little person to join our family and find peace each day knowing that no matter what, this life inside is in His hands. I can’t wait to meet him or her…we should know which in just over a month! Aside from all the things I adore about my husband and hope are genetically imprinted on our child, here’s a little peak at the bump’s progress.

The fist photo was taken the day we found out we were pregnant. Baby was just the size of a sesame seed.

This picture was taken a week ago and baby was measuring about 3 inches long at the time!

5 years together!

Our 5 year anniversary was actually August 26, which we celebrated by going to a family wedding. Clearly this couple is cute together and their wedding was absolutely beautiful. Ty’s entire family (which is gigantic) is such a joy and getting to celebrate this day with his cousin was so much fun.

So, the weekend after the fun family wedding is when we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and enjoy a short trip together. Before I go any further though, can I just take a moment to express how wonderful the last five years of my life have been as Ty’s wife? I am one seriously lucky girl. As I look back on our almost 9 years together, I am so confident of God’s sovereignty and timing. It is evident to both Ty and I that God brought us together, and we try everyday to make sure He is the very foundation of everything we share together. It is through the grace, forgiveness, mercy, kindness and steadfast love of Christ that we are married. Happily and healthily married. Spending life with a man as kind, patient, funny and handsome as Ty doesn’t hurt either. 🙂

But back to our trip. We decided it would be fun to explore some “local” places we haven’t spent much time in, so I drafted up a plan to start out driving north to La Conner and then work our way over and through Whidbey island. I loved La Conner for its quaint small town charm and the abundance of funky shops that I could have taken all day to explore. Ty is patient, but not that patient. He was great about letting me stop in to a few without too much complaining and I think he even secretly liked a few of them. The first gem we saw was in the entry of our first shop. Who wouldn’t want a gum ball from this machine?!

This shop, which I forget the name of, also had some great reading material like this one that Ty was clearly excited about.

And this one, that had some great tips, recipes and charts for table settings. Thanks to this book, I finally know what all the forks are for when I eat a fancy meal!

My favorite shop of the day was Nasty Jacks, which I kept calling Crusty Jacks…but this place had some serious treasure inside.

I’m not sure if this guy was for sale, but he was sure fun to ride!

Nasty Jack’s also had swords…

and hats…

and airplanes…And this guy just happens to be the very same one Ty works hard on everyday to make sure it doesn’t fall out of the sky!

And so many other treasures too! All that shopping really worked up our appetites. La Conner being a new place to us, we wanted to take our time and look into every restaurant in town to make sure we were making the best decision on our meal. I however, nearly went in to some sort of diabetic episode and needed food immediately. The new mission was to find the closest restaurant around, regardless of food, price or quality. After filling our bellies and getting my blood sugar to stabilize, we continued our walk through town, only to stumble upon the Calico Cupboard cafe and bakery just a few doors down from the mediocre lunch spot we ended up eating at. The place was packed, and for good reason. Aside from having a menu full of food that looked delicious and fresh, they had a glass case full of the most delectable looking pies, desserts and baked goods. I mean look at this cream puff. It had to be the size of a dinner plate!

I couldn’t resist their lemon bar, which I instagrammed it was so good…

It. was. delicious.

Ty got something equally as delicious, but we unfortunately did not get a picture of the treat or of him enjoying it. He ate it so fast there was no time for a picture 🙂

After La Conner, our next stop was Deception Pass, along with everyone else in the PNW enjoying the sunny holiday weekend. It was c-r-a-z-y there, so we didn’t stay long. Just long enough to snap a few photos.

Here’s a panoramic shot from our sweet new camera

From Deception Pass we drove to Oak Harbor. Some of our closest friends grew up there, so we thought there would be something fun to explore there. Something interesting. Something great. No such luck. Not a lot of exploring to do in town, so we headed to the beach instead. Ty took probably 100 photos of the sky, the sand, the grass and the ocean. Here’s one of some sky, grass and ocean all in one.

By this time, even after all the food we ate in La Conner, we were getting hungry again. We took to our iPhones to search for a place to eat in Oak Harbor, but neither one of us could agree on something that sounded good or looked appealing. We asked the front desk at the hotel we booked and they recommended Front Street Grill in Coupville. The lady at the front desk was very convincing and sold the restaurant well, so we called ahead for a reservation. The lady at the hotel was right. Their food was quite tasty and the view of the water was beautiful too. After dinner, we were both pretty pooped, and as much as I liked the sound of dessert, I liked the sound of bed so much more. So that was the end of day one.

Day two, we woke up and strolled over to the hotel lobby for their continental breakfast. Disappointing. After staying at places like the Enzian in Leavenworth and the Chrysalis in Bellingham, no other continental breakfasts compare. Regardless, we were fueled and excited to spend the day strolling through Port Townsend, another place neither one of us had been before. The ferry ride over was a bit chilly…

…but it was an absolutely beautiful day.

We were pretty bad about taking photos here, so forgive us for that. The area really is worth exploring. We spent it walking through more (yes more) shops, walking through the Maritime Museum, walking the beach, and walking, walking, walking! On one of the street corners was this funky little band that actually sounded quite good. That girl on the right is plucking a string tied to a stick and a bucket!

My favorite part of the day though was probably lunch. There’s a restaurant in Port Townsend called the Banana Leaf Asian Bistro with a $7.95 lunch special everyday of the week. That speaks to our frugal hearts. I’m not sure if it is just because I’m pregnant and I was really hungry by the time we sat down to eat, but that was probably some of the best thai food I have tasted. ever.

I recommend it. I also introduced Ty to Thai iced tea there. I can’t believe in the 9 years we’ve been together he’s never had it before. His eyes have been opened. His life changed forever.

That’s pretty much it for our anniversary/holiday weekend. After lunch and a bit more exploring we took the ferry back to Whidbey, drove to Clinton and then took another ferry back home. I hope you enjoyed your long weekend as well. Oh and Ty, thank you for being the absolute best I could have asked for. I look forward to the next five years with you and the fifty after that!

whoa. crazy. I don’t feel good…

The title of this makes me laugh a little because these are some of the first things Ty said when we found out we’re pregnant. Being 12 weeks in now, how do I remember that? We filmed it of course! We had been praying for and anticipating this baby for quite some time, so when the month came that I realized I was late, we knew we wanted to do something special to capture the moment we found out we were pregnant. There are all these great and cute and crafty ideas floating around the internet that had my mind reeling over how we could share the news with family in a way that was both special and memorable. The problem was that I am impatient, we are on a budget (so anything too crafty had not been budgeted for), and I am not really all that crafty to begin with. So, videotaping it sounded like the best, fastest and cheapest option. Ty, being the reasonable and practical one in our marriage, started asking questions about how I would feel if we found out we weren’t pregnant. I hated that thought, and I think there was a part of me that just knew that I was. But, I told him that if we did face that reality, he would be in charge of deleting the video as quickly as possible, comforting me while I cried, and running to the store for ice cream and oreos. Luckily, that didn’t happen. Here’s what did:

I love this video. I think I’ve watched it 80 times. It is sweet and awkward and us. These are some of the things I love about watching this:

• My reaction. I don’t think I realized how much I wanted this baby until I saw those two blue lines starring back at me. I had no idea I would cry, but I love seeing my reaction. Watching myself cry makes me cry every time I see it 🙂
• Ty’s reaction. Again, as the title points out, some of his first words were “whoa. crazy. I don’t feel good.” I think that is his way of saying “Holy crap I didn’t think we’d get pregnant that fast” and “Hooray!” all at the same time. At least that is my interpretation of it.
• Ty’s thumbs up to the camera. I was completely unaware of this and seeing it as we watched it back for the first time cracked me up.
• The cuisinart box that briefly comes in to screen. We found out we were pregnant a few weeks before my sister in law was getting married and knew we wanted to tell her and her fiance the good news. But that cuisinart box is actually their wedding present and I was convinced they were going to see it in the video. I actually said a prayer that they wouldn’t notice it before showing them the video.
• My awkward attempt at a joke…about my pee…Why did I say that?! And now it is forever on video for me to cringe at. Oh well, just keeping it real I guess.
• Ty’s awkward comments about our sex life, and then the clarification that comes just after. At least we’re both awkward. Something I am sure this baby will inherit too.
• How dang hot Ty looks at the end of the video. Seriously. I am a crying mess and he looks like a male model. Not fair. I expect photos from the hospital after our child arrives will be remarkably similar. Note to self to remember blush, waterproof mascara and a comb in the hospital bag.
• How giggly I am. I seemed to laugh through the entire video. I’m beyond thrilled for this adventure and it shows from the minute we found out. I’ll revisit this thought again when I have a toddler throwing a tantrum one day…

Jumping on the bandwagon

For some of our friends and family, the title of this blog may come as a surprise, but it’s sort of the reason we decided to start this online journal of sorts. This is actually something Ty and I have talked about several times since we got married 5 years ago and moved away from all of our family and friends in Oregon. We wanted a way to stay connected and a place for our family and friends to see what we’re up to here in the Evergreen state. Anyone close to us can tell you that Ty and I are slow movers. We make calculated, researched, well thought out and prayed over decisions. We weigh our options. We read articles and talk to people about their experiences. So it’s really no surprise that although we’ve talked about doing this for quite some time, it has taken us five years to actually do it. But here we are, jumping on the blogging bandwagon. In reality though, we want this to be a place to share our memories, record our adventures, and connect with those that we love that are now scattered all over the globe. We look forward to sharing our journey with you!